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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25525372">Unnoticed Problems</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveM/pseuds/SteveM'>SteveM</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Building A Better World [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batwoman (TV 2019), Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 07:40:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,774</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25525372</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteveM/pseuds/SteveM</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kate and Kara start investigating a potential anti-alien problem in Gotham.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kara Danvers &amp; Kate Kane, Kara Danvers/Kate Kane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Building A Better World [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1837882</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a time, not that long ago, that Kate Kane had despised mornings. The reasons had changed over the years, true, but cracking her eyes open had always seemed to be a bad idea. Whether it was the momentary confusion at waking up alone and with her entire purpose in life seemingly gone after being kicked out of Point Rock, the inevitable hangover after trying to party - alright, drink - the memory of that loss away or the waves of pain from whatever training she’d gone through the day before it had always, always sucked. Now though…</p>
<p>She felt the cool silk sheets against her skin, smelt the familiar scent of her wife and luxuriated in the warmth of the living solar battery pressed against her back. She kept her eyes closed, letting her other senses build the world around her until she could almost see the beautiful face behind her with its small, satisfied smile that always seemed to be present whenever they woke up together.</p>
<p>“Morning.” The word was a ticklish breath in Kate’s ear and she snuggled back as a soft arm slid around her.</p>
<p>“Mmm, morning.” Kate purred back, her eyes still closed. “How long have you been awake?”</p>
<p>“About an hour.”</p>
<p>“And you’re still here?”</p>
<p>“I wanted to watch you sleep.”</p>
<p>“Aww, sweet. Slightly stalker-y but sweet.” Kate teased, bringing her hand down to wrap her fingers around Kara’s, squeezing the hug a little tighter.</p>
<p>“You’re beautiful when you sleep. I mean, not that you aren’t normally of course but you’re so… so peaceful.”</p>
<p>“Trust me, that’s all down to you.” Kate chuckled, her free hand reaching back to run down the curve of Kara’s side, hip and thigh. “God you’re stunning.”</p>
<p>“How do you know, you haven’t seen me?” Kara teased, leaning in to kiss Kate’s neck and grinning as the brunette arched her head back to give Kara better access.</p>
<p>“This morning, no. But I never need to see you to know how beautiful you are.”</p>
<p>“Look who’s talking.” Kara laughed, her lips trailing over Kate’s neck and shoulders. “There are days I wonder how I’m ever going to get out of this bed!”</p>
<p>“Don’t tempt me.” Kate groaned as Kara slipped her free arm under Kate’s body and let her fingers trail across Kate’s waist. </p>
<p>“Why not?” Kara’s voice was suddenly the most sultry, tempting sound Kate had ever heard and she swallowed hard.</p>
<p>“Because we really, really can’t today.”</p>
<p>“Sure about that?” The wandering hand dipped a little lower and Kate groaned with desire and frustration.</p>
<p>“Oh fuck you….” Kate protested, though not with a great deal of conviction.</p>
<p>“If you insist!” Kara laughed and there was a complicated blur of super speed. Kate found herself turned over and lying atop Kara’s body, warm thighs pressing gently either side of her head. She felt her lover’s warm breath as Kara kissed her thighs, moving up towards her core.</p>
<p>“Wait. Wait a minute!” Kate gasped and Kara instantly broke away.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong? Too much?” Kara asked in a small voice and Kate laughed.</p>
<p>“Never, it’s just… hang on.” She spun around to straddle her wife and reached out, her fingertips tracing their way up Kara’s body until she was cupping her chin. Kate dipped down and kissed the beautiful blonde deeply then pulled back a little. She opened her eyes and stared down into the slightly confused steel blue gaze looking back at her.</p>
<p>“There you are….” Kate whispered. “Sorry, I just really wanted the first thing I saw today to be that face.”</p>
<p>“Mmmmaaawwww.” Kara practically melted below Kate and the big, goofy grin warmed Kate’s heart.</p>
<p>“Of course I also know what I want the second thing I see to be!” Kate said and spun back to a 69 position with a delighted laugh that was echoed a fraction of a second later by Kara. “First to three?” Kate asked.</p>
<p>“Five!” Kara demanded.</p>
<p>“Oh you are feeling brave this morning! Okay five, but no super anything, fair’s fair!”</p>
<p>“Deal! But I’m getting at least thirty minutes of your undivided attention when you lose, I’m not being left frustrated all day again.”</p>
<p>“Me? Lose? I think you’ve forgotten how easy you are for me Kara Danvers.” Kate said, her lips tracing their way down Kara’s thigh.</p>
<p>“Bring it Kane!” Kara challenged and the words became groans and cries as both women dove into their task, each determined to outlast the other.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“One of these days you’re going to learn not to underestimate me.” Kate said with a laugh as Kara headed to the kitchen for the steaming latte waiting on the counter, a comically over-exaggerated sulk on her face. Kate was actually quite impressed her wife managed to keep that pout in place all the way to the cup and halfway through the walk back before it broke into a giggle.</p><p>“Yeah, well, you’re the one person I don’t mind losing to.” Kara said, ruffling Kate’s hair as she passed by and laughed at the sigh she left in her wake. “Plus you’re such a gracious winner.”</p><p>Kate shrugged as she fixed the damage Kara had just done. “Only when you’re involved dear. Works out nicely.” The last was said with a sly grin and wink that had Kara blushing. “You ready for this?”</p><p>“Not really.” Kara admitted. “Not even sure how I’m going to start the conversation.” </p><p>“Trust me on this one, Supergirl turning up on the doorstep will be one hell of an icebreaker.”</p><p>“Hope you’re right.” Kara sounded dubious and Kate walked over to stand right in front of the Girl of Steel.</p><p>“You’re the best person I’ve ever met for getting people to relax around you. You’re that rarest of rare things, an inspiration who’s also warm, caring, approachable and who knows when to shut up and listen. They see that and love you for it.”</p><p>“Awww…”</p><p>“Of course if they had to put up with the snoring…”</p><p>“Hey! I don’t snore.”</p><p>“No matter how often you try I’m never going to buy that line about Kryptonian prayer sounding suspiciously like Earth snoring.”</p><p>“But…”</p><p>“Never.”</p><p>“Why do I put up with this?”</p><p>“You’re kidding right?” Kate said, half-turning away from Kara before looking back over her shoulder with her very best ‘come hither’ eyes.</p><p>“Oh, right. Silly me.” Kara laughed taking advantage of the invitation and carefully wrapping the shorter woman in an embrace, their lips meeting as she made sure not to spill their life-giving coffee. </p><p>“Mmm, now I can face the world.” Kara teased. “Any idea how you’re going to spend the day?”</p><p>“Luke’s been working on spotting anything odd in the public record regarding aliens. We’re going to step through that, see what comes up.”</p><p>“Good plan!”</p><p>“Oh and in case I forget to mention it later on Lena’s probably coming to Gotham tomorrow.”</p><p>“Really? Didn’t know that was on her itinerary?” </p><p>“It wasn’t.” Kate said trying not to chuckle at Kara’s barely restrained enthusiasm at getting to see her best friend. “Apparently Star City went well and she wanted to tell me about it. Must be something pretty major if she doesn’t trust the phone.”</p><p>“Hmm, that’s strange… she wasn’t closing a deal or anything as far as I know?”</p><p>“No but it’s Lena, that woman could take over the world in an afternoon if she decided it was a good idea.”</p><p>“But wouldn’t owing to not being a villain.” Kara pointed out and Kate laughed.</p><p>“Well if it meant you’d be the one coming to stop her with a solid spanking she might. But you know what I mean!”</p><p>“Yeah yeah, I do.” Kara confirmed as she tried not to blush at the mental image. She did, sometimes, wonder what might have happened in that direction if her and Kate hadn’t… well, there was always a path not taken wasn’t there? </p><p>“I’m assuming you’re okay with us making dinner plans with her tomorrow night?” Kate asked innocently.</p><p>“Of course!”</p><p>“Great. 7pm at that new grill place downtown. Casual dress and a private room, leave space for dessert as I’ve heard great things about at least half the menu.”</p><p>“I love you.” Kara said softly, her face set in a wide grin. </p><p>“You’d better, I’m picking up the bill!” Kate said brushing a lock of Kara’s hair into its proper place. “Now get going, I need to head down to the office, do enough work to keep the business running then go meet up with Luke in the ‘cave.”</p><p>*****</p><p>“Please tell me you’ve found something.” Kate growled as she marched from the rickety metal lift cage into the Batcave.</p><p>“Uh, I don’t know, maybe. Is… everything alright?”</p><p>“Depends. How much of an asshole do you have to be before Batwoman can acceptably pay you a visit?”</p><p>“Legal asshole or the other kind.”</p><p>“That I know of? Legal…ish”</p><p>“In that case, pretty much unlimited asshole status is safe. Sorry. I’m assuming… Morgan Edge?”</p><p>“The one and only! How Kara resists accidentally punting him out a window I have no idea.”</p><p>“Well you’ve always said she’s the one with patience.”</p><p>“Pardon?”</p><p>“You’ve always said she’s the one with an infatuation.”</p><p>“Not your best save.” Kate said with a wry smile.</p><p>“Save? No, no save. You just… misheard me.”</p><p>Kate had made her way over to the Batsuit and the attendant arsenal of weaponry as if seriously considering grabbing a Batarang just for Morgan Edge. She glanced at Luke over her shoulder and pointed at the cowl. “With those ears? Not likely. But thanks for trying.”</p><p>“Hey, my boss is in a bad mood, everyone suffers.” Luke joked, fingers running over the keyboard as he pulled up the fruits of his electronic labours.</p><p>“You know I’m not your boss.” </p><p>“You sign my pay cheque.”</p><p>“That’s just a legal thing.”</p><p>“Yes. It means legally, you’re my boss.” This time it was Luke that let Kate off the hook. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t also be a friend.”</p><p>“A friend?”</p><p>“Okay, best friend. Happy?”</p><p>“Happier than I was when I came down here, thanks. You said you’d found something?”</p><p>“Maybe, it’s odd. Remember that real estate company Dynamic Developments?”</p><p>“How can I forget that name?” Kate said with a wince. “Was everything else taken or something? They pushed the prices up on that warehouse block down at the docks about a year ago, right?”</p><p>“That’s the one. Anyway turns out they shifted from commercial to residential just after that. Started buying up homes from owners that wanted out in a hurry but not quite desperate enough to deal with the shark tank end of the market.”</p><p>“Nice niche if you can make it work. What’s put them on our radar?”</p><p>“It might be a coincidence but almost half of their purchases ended up with alien tenants.”</p><p>Kate’s eyes went wide at the figure as she racked her brain for the stats. “Isn’t the alien to human rate in Gotham something like one in a thousand?”</p><p>“Pretty close to it, yeah. Well, the ones we know about anyway. But before you jump to a conclusion here the market they’re buying in might have something to do with it. They’re not slums or anything, most wouldn’t need any real investment from what I can find out. They’re in that weird band where the rent is just high enough to keep out the desperate but won’t go high enough to get those looking for somewhere in a decent neighbourhood. Most of the owners just needed to shift their assets from homes to cash, they weren’t losing money on them.”</p><p>“And considering that aliens in Gotham are likely getting at least a little shafted on salary that’d be the sort of place they naturally gravitate to?”</p><p>“Exactly. Even so that’s still a really big percentage. And then there’s this place…” Luke rattled the keys and brought up a six floor apartment block, a central staircase feeding two apartments per floor. </p><p>“What makes this one different?”</p><p>“It’s being demolished tomorrow.”</p><p>“I thought you said they bought decent places?”</p><p>“They do and they did. They bought this one right at the start of their push and it was fine. Up until two weeks ago they had an apartment available for rent. Now it’s getting torn down. Well, blown down really.”</p><p>“Anything else being redeveloped around it?”</p><p>“No, it’s over on the west side in a decent area, high end for their holdings actually. Paperwork says it’s to let them redevelop it into more modern accommodation, mix of one and three bed places with open plan everything instead of the two bed 60’s style they bought.”</p><p>“And you don’t believe that?”</p><p>“Oh I believe they’re doing it, I just don’t know why. If they’re rebuilding the whole thing from the ground up there’s just no way they’d ever make their money back, not in that part of Gotham and certainly not with the initial purchase price factored in.”</p><p>“Hmm, I think it may be worth Batwoman swinging by and taking a closer look before they implode it…” Kate said, studying the building plan. “Nice work by the way.”</p><p>“It might be nothing.” Luke warned but Kate shook her head.</p><p>“No. No, something’s stinks here. Let’s go find out what.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Supergirl hung in the sky just above the clouds and ran over what she had to do next for what felt like the hundredth time that day. It wasn’t that it was dangerous or even that challenging really, at least not compared to what she normally went through in a given week. But she wasn’t entirely sure how best to approach the rather tricky task and didn’t want to make things any worse for the young family she needed to talk to. </p><p>She’d wondered briefly about turning up as Kara Danvers on the trail of a story but that would rely on her old ‘Supergirl told me about you’ standby line. That didn’t just feel wrong because of the lie but, as she’d found out over the years, the younger kids tended to see right thought it. That said a visit from the Girl of Steel wasn’t exactly a subtle thing and if they were already having trouble with the neighbours… </p><p>She sighed and cast another glance around the neat little street they lived on. While she hated using her x-ray vision to snoop on people in this case she felt it was worthwhile. So far she’d only found humans in the buildings and while there wasn’t a single home for sale or rent right now she’d gotten lucky and only the house to the right of her target was currently occupied. Might as well get it over with, she thought reluctantly…</p><p>When Inara opened the door her delighted squeal brought the rest of the family running at the double to see the older of their two girls practically bouncing at the visitor smiling from the porch.</p><p>“Supergirl?” Myara asked in confusion. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>“Nothing! I was just in town, it’s a quiet night so thought I’d drop by and see how you were getting on.” Kara said and it was all true, albeit missing a couple of details. To her relief she saw the knowing look on Myara’s face and was pretty certain she was remembering the chat they’d had while the girls had been fussing over their rescued kitty. </p><p>“Well come in, please!” Myara said, beckoning the Kryptonian inside to the ecstatic reaction of her daughters. </p><p>“Thank you. Inara, Enola, nice to see you again!” Kara said, stepping in and shutting the door behind her before kneeling down and sweeping both girls into a hug as they launched themselves at Supergirl with unbridled enthusiasm. </p><p>“Careful girls!” Myara chided but Enola proved that Kara had been right not to try and bluff her way through this with an instant demonstration of the devastating logic only the young can get away with.</p><p>“It’s not like we’re going to hurt her mom!”</p><p>“It’s alright.” Kara said, more to reassure their mother than the girls. “Honestly this is kinda the reason I put on the cape.”</p><p>“What, hugs?” Inara asked, slightly confused.</p><p>Kara grinned and winked at her. “Well I was thinking helping people but the hugs are nice too.”</p><p>“I’m just putting dinner together, would you like to stay?” Myara asked and the offer seemed genuine as far as Kara could tell.</p><p>“Uh….” She hesitated and the girls immediately ganged up on her. “Oh please! Please please please!”</p><p>“I can try but if something happens…”</p><p>“Up, up and away!” Enola said happily and Kara laughed.</p><p>“Exactly!”</p><p>“It’ll be another thirty minutes or so, assuming Kifen got away on time.” Myara told her then chuckled. “You should have come tomorrow when it’s his turn to cook, he’s always been better than me in the kitchen.”</p><p>“Trust me, no matter what you’re cooking it’ll be better than mine.” Kara said with a rueful grin. “Never have gotten the hang of cooking on Earth.”</p><p>“Kif says you need a lot of patience.” Myara said, leading the little party back into a cozy lounge. “They can put themselves in space but can’t invent a way of cooking that works exactly the same way twice.”</p><p>“Would probably explain why I’m awful at it.” Kara admitted. “Downside of super speed, it makes putting up with some of the, uh, slower tools here that much harder.”</p><p>“Oooh, how fast are you!” Inara asked latching on to the question as the two girls gradually recovering from their shock at the unexpected guest. “I mean, I *know* you’re faster than a speeding bullet but, uh, well how fast is a bullet?”</p><p>“I hope you never find that out.” Kara said seriously and saw her stock go up in Myara’s eyes another notch. “But… well let’s see…. “ She looked around and noticed a sketchpad and pencil on the small coffee table. “Could I borrow that?”</p><p>“Sure.” Enola said, handing it over with a mix of pride and terror. Kara took a moment to flick through the doodles and pictures that filled the first two thirds of the pages. They were actually pretty good, especially if…</p><p>“Is this yours?” She asked Enola and got a wide-eyed nod in return. “These are really good! This one of your sister is brilliant!” Kara held the book up at the right page and it proved she wasn’t kidding. Enola had even captured the shimmering blue scales with some subtlety, not bad at all for someone so young.</p><p>“She picked up her father’s artistic side.” Myara said proudly. “Doesn’t go a day without drawing or writing.” </p><p>“How about you?” Supergirl asked Inara and the older girl shook her head. “Nah, Enola’s the artist. I’m more like mom with numbers and patterns.” </p><p>“They can be beautiful too.” Kara said, remembering the way science, engineering and art had merged on Krypton so you often weren’t sure where the dividing line was any more. Apparently it was the right thing to say as Inara’s eyes went almost as wide as Enola’s.</p><p>“You think so?! Mom did you hear!”</p><p>“Yes I did dear, I’m not that old yet.” Myara laughed. “A Supergirl indeed, there aren’t many on this planet that realise that.”</p><p>Kara tapped the symbol on her chest. “This is my family crest, the House of El. In our language it means El Mayarah or Stronger Together in English. Art and language blended together and, on Krypton, science too as it’s surprisingly difficult to make large versions of it as physical objects without a backing like this suit.”</p><p>“Stronger together? I like that!” Enola said happily.</p><p>“Me too.” Kara told her. “It’s become such a big part of my life. And there are worse things to stand for! Now you wanted to know how fast I am, right?”</p><p>“Yes!” The girls chorused and Kara flipped to a blank page. “Okay… hold still for me?”</p><p>Her hand blurred, the pencil moving so quickly it was as if the lines were flowing like ink. Five seconds later she put it down and turned the pad around.</p><p>“So…?” Kara asked, slightly nervous as she knew for absolute certain that Enola wasn’t far off her skill level even at such a young age. </p><p>“Wow!” Again the voices rose together as they saw a rough sketch of themselves staring back, the pencil lines thin and detailed, clearly the result of a fair amount of work despite the handful of seconds that had passed. </p><p>“Wow indeed!” Myara echoed. “I’m going to have to get the food started though. Supergirl, do you want to come and talk while I’m working? Girls, you still need to finish your homework.”</p><p>“MOM!” The looks she received at this proclamation made it clear her children thought their mother had lost her mind.</p><p>“No, she’s right.” Kara said firmly. “Tell you what… get your homework done and I’ll stay as long as I can *and* if I do have to go before we can eat I’ll make sure to come back so we can finish this properly. Deal?”</p><p>“Deal!” Enola said quickly to be echoed a second later by Inara. They rushed off to live up to their end of the bargain and Myara shook her head in admiration.</p><p>“You’re great with them. Do you have any?”</p><p>“Kids? No. Finding a… uh… partner for that would be a little tricky without causing certain, umm, injuries.” Kara blushed and Myara gave a rich, throaty laugh in understanding, quickly checking to make sure the girls weren’t hanging around before answering.</p><p>“Ah, woman of steel, man of Kleenex?”</p><p>“Something like that!” Kara said chuckling as they headed into the large open plan kitchen and dining room.</p><p>“So… not that I mind the visit, quite the opposite, but what are you actually doing here Supergirl?” Myara asked casually as she reached for a pan.</p><p>“Honestly? I did want to check on you but I was also hoping to talk to you about those attacks on aliens you mentioned when I saw you last time. But if you don’t want to that’s absolutely fine too, last thing I want is to put you in danger or make you uncomfortable.”</p><p>Myara stepped back and took a long hard look at the Girl of Steel. “No, no that’s fine.” She said with a nod that seemed aimed at herself more than Kara. “You’ve been nothing but kind to us and to come back and ask about that… well, it’s more than anyone else has done!”</p><p>“I’m hoping that’s not all I can do.” Kara said firmly.</p><p>“Don’t get your hopes up too far.” Myara sighed. “Some things can’t be fixed.”</p><p>“I don’t believe that.” Supergirl said. “At least, not in the long run anyway. If we can’t fix something now, here, today then we’ve got to keep trying. The world we leave behind has to be a better one than we found or else what’s the point in any of this?”</p><p>Myara nodded slowly, her eyes suddenly full of compassion. “What indeed?” She said softly. “Alright… where to start….” She tapped her fingers on her chin absentmindedly as her other hand rummaged in a drawer for what turned out to be a long-handled spoon.</p><p>“It’s… difficult.” Myara said after a moment. “I can tell you when it got worse but ever since we came here ten, no, eleven years ago it’s never been easy. Humans are very…. Primitive in many ways. They can’t even accept their own species if their skin is a different shade, what chance do we have?”</p><p>“They’re not all like that.” Kara said gently. “I’m lucky, I know, but I spend my days surrounded by people who see everyone as, well, people.”</p><p>“Do you think they’ll ever all be like that?” Myara asked with a slightly wistful tone.</p><p>“No.” Kara shook her head. “After all, I wasn’t.”</p><p>“You? But… but you’re Supergirl?”</p><p>“And it turned out that Supergirl her her own prejudices that I’d never thought about until they were literally standing in front of me. A survivor from our neighbouring planet of Daxam and all I could think about was how much of an irresponsible jerk I thought they were.”</p><p>“Oh. If I can ask… how did that turn out?”</p><p>“Fell in love.” Kara said with a sheepish grin. </p><p>“Wait, Batwoman’s an alien?” Myara said in shock then clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. “Oh I’m so sorry, that’s not my place to…”</p><p>Supergirl blinked in surprise a couple of times then practically fell into one of the kitchen chairs from the force of her laughter. She waved away the apology as she tried to get her breath back.</p><p>“Sorry, sorry Myara, that’s… “ She broke off again as another wave of giggles washed over her and she mimed a glass in one hand. Myara filled one with water and Kara took several long sips as she forced herself to calm down.</p><p>“I’m assuming there’s rumours going around about Batwoman and Supergirl being, well….?”</p><p>Myara nodded, her eyes almost as big as her daughters had been. “Yes, sorry, didn’t mean to, but it seemed, oh…”</p><p>“It’s okay, it really is.” Kara reassured her. “I guess we haven’t maybe been as circumspect as we could be.”</p><p>“You mean…” Myara clearly wasn’t sure if she should drop the whole thing but couldn’t quite resist asking at least some of the question.</p><p>“Yeah.” Kara replied with a big, goofy grin. She knew it was probably a bad idea but she was tired of dancing around the topic over the last couple of years. Besides she couldn’t quite bring herself to lie to someone she hoped would help her.</p><p>“And she’s… a Daxamite?”</p><p>“What? Oh, no, no not at all. The guy from Daxam was someone I fell in love with years ago… and a literal universe away now. That wasn’t meant to be and I think it worked out well for both of us in the end.”</p><p>“If the photos do her justice I’d say it did for you at least.” Myara said with a shy smile.</p><p>“They don’t and it really, really did.” Kara confirmed. </p><p>“Good. If there’s one thing this planet could do with more of it’s love.” Myara said firmly, moving over to start chopping and stirring fresh vegetables into a large bowl. “It might just balance out some of the hate.”</p><p>“Talking of…” Kara prompted and Myara sighed before nodding.</p><p>“Just over a year ago the sky turned white…. We never really knew why though Lex Luthor was arrested right after. Almost immediately things started to change. Small things at first, a different attitude, no, sorry, that’s not right. Not different, exactly, just… more people having a distrustful attitude to us because we were different. It had always been there of course but suddenly it was like half the people we saw eyed us with suspicion. Even people I’d worked with for the last couple of years seemed off, somehow. Like they knew who I was but didn’t really want to.”</p><p>“We started to hear stories from the alien community about the same sort of thing all over the world. No big events or anything obvious just… just a general distrust of us. Anger. Most of it passive but sometimes it came close to boiling over. Then the fear plague hit and in one night it all got so much worse. We saw your symbol of course, heard… something. But afterwards the stories got worse. Attacks on aliens, sometimes to intimidate, sometimes for being different, sometimes for what seemed to be no reason.”</p><p>“How didn’t the DEO hear about this? How didn’t I?” Kara asked in shock, her eyes brimming with tears. </p><p>“When it started it wasn’t noisy enough, just the general prejudice of day to day life. Later… well, we’re getting attacked for no reason. Can you imagine anyone being keen to make themselves a target with stories they couldn’t prove?”</p><p>“I… no, not really.” Kara admitted. “Sorry.”</p><p>“Besides, as I said when we met, if you’re asking for humans to solve the problem that can make things so much worse.”</p><p>“They’re not all like that, I promise!”</p><p>“I know, but too many of them are, especially those with guns and the legal right to use them.” Myara sighed and put down the bowl with a heavy thud. “A family on the west side called the police when a group of humans tried to break into their home. The police arrived, stormed the building and shot their little girl. Claimed she threatened them. She was twelve…” She looked up to the ceiling as if she could see her own daughters in their rooms. “What danger could she possibly have been to them?”</p><p>“I’m sorry.” Kara reached over and put a warm hand on Myara’s shoulder. </p><p>“Thank you but you don’t have anything to apologise for. The system that let them cover it up without anything more than an apology though…”</p><p>“What? How!” Kara could feel her anger rising and forced it away, not wanting to risk her eyes glowing and scaring the hell out of this kind, brave woman.</p><p>“They can claim to fear for their lives and the law can’t touch them.” Myara explained sadly. “If they’re facing aliens… well, who knows what horrible things we could do to them.” She laughed hollowly. “Bet they wouldn’t try that on you.”</p><p>“Some might.” Supergirl admitted, flashing back to the seemingly all-too-regular attempts on her life both before and after Crisis. “Some have.”</p><p>For a moment the two women looked at each other, sharing the burden of being so very, very far from home. Myara reached up and squeezed Kara’s hand. “It’s never going to be easy is it?” The blue skinned alien asked sadly.</p><p>“No. But we can make it easier for them.” Kara said, nodding to the ceiling and the kids beyond currently deep in depths of their studies.  “I lost my home, everyone I cared about at least in part thanks to our own arrogance. The most important thing I could ever do is help others avoid that mistake… even if I’m not likely to live long enough to see that through.”</p><p>Myara looked at Kara oddly, something flickering in the depths of her eyes. “If anyone else said that I’d call them crazy. Yet somehow I get the feeling you could actually do it.” She smiled and the sadness was suddenly gone. “Now if we can just have you talk to everyone in the world one on one it’d be easy!”</p><p>Kara joined the laughter and followed Myara’s nod to pass her a knife from a drawer as the older woman started to trim some plants that Kara didn’t recognise. “Until then I’ll just have to do what I can.”</p><p>“Well you might want to start with a consortium called Earth First.” Myara said, turning serious again. “Heard of it?”</p><p>“No…. No I don’t think so. It sounds like an environmental group.”</p><p>“Oh it does. It even does a lot of conservation work, after a fashion.” Myara shook her head in disgust. “Inara was telling the truth earlier, my skills mostly lie in numbers, spotting patterns that sort of thing. Perfect for working in financial institutions here, especially in auditing. Earth First’s accounts came across my desk a few months ago. A lot of projects listed as ‘charitable’ activities looked perfectly innocent until you went deeper. Almost all of them focused on housing, food production or general health drives that would only benefit humans.”</p><p>She sighed and reached for the fridge to pull out two packs of chicken. “Once I noticed that detail other things started to jump out. No aliens employed in any of the companies making up the group. New projects proposed in places with high alien populations listed as low risk to the company but high risk of failure. And then just two days into the audit the whole group was passed to a human colleague. No explanation, just that they needed me to focus on a couple of difficult tax dodging cases. Never happened before or since.”</p><p>“Sounds like a good place to start.” Kara said, her reporter skills flashing up all sorts of red flags. “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to start looking that doesn’t link to you or your family. Talking of which…” She broke off and pointed at the front door two seconds before there was the familiar sound of a key turning in the lock.</p><p>Kifen looked tired as he stepped inside his home but that was quickly replaced with shock at the slightly sheepish Supergirl standing in his hallway.</p><p>“Kif you remember Supergirl?” Myara said with a wicked teasing tone in her voice.</p><p>“Uhhhh… yes, yes of course! Little difficult to forget you.” He said with a warm, crooked grin. “I’m assuming nothing’s wrong?” That was directed more at his wife than the blonde hero and he was reassured to see the quick shake of her head.</p><p>“No, Supergirl just came to see how we were doing. We’ve had a nice talk and she’s staying for dinner.”</p><p>“A brave hero indeed!” Kif said theatrically, ducking the wadded-up hand towel Myara threw at him. “Where are the girls?”</p><p>Myara laughed. “Finishing their studies for the evening. Supergirl said she’d say if they got it all done.”</p><p>Kif blinked in surprise. “That worked? Of course it worked… can we maybe make some sort of regular appointment with you Supergirl, they’d be top of the class in a month!”</p><p>Kara laughed and shook her head. “With you two watching over them I’d be surplus to requirements.”</p><p>“Brave and a charmer. You should take up poetry!” Kif chuckled, still a little nervous but Kara waved the compliment away.</p><p>“Tried it, sucked at it.” She said modestly, not mentioning she preferred longer prose. That’d be a little too close to the other part of her life.  “But I do have a favour to ask before we eat if I may?”</p><p>“Anything.” Kif and Myara said in perfect synchronisation. </p><p>“Well it’ll sound odd but… would it be okay if I saw Dex-Starr while I’m here? I used to have a cat a long time ago and it’d be nice to spend a few minutes with one again.”</p><p>“Of course.” Kif said in surprise. “He’s probably up in the study. First door on the left at the top of the stairs. Be careful though, he can be a bit cranky… oh.” Realisation dawned a little late but Kara just winked at him.</p><p>“I’ll be fine.” She said cheerily and followed his directions, trying not to listen in accidentally to the whispered conversation between husband and wife.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dex-Starr was curled up on the top of a large cat tree that took up one entire corner of the study. It looked supremely comfortable and just for a moment Kara wondered if whoever had made it did Kryptonian-sized versions. She saw his head turn to watch her as she walked in slowly, his eyes locked on hers with a look of recognition. She waited a minute then saw him slowly blink at her. Hoping he was close enough to an Earth cat for the same body language to apply she closed the gap and held out her hand, one finger extended down towards him and waited.</p><p>He kept his eyes on her and she once again got the feeling of a strong intelligence behind that stare. Slowly, carefully, he lifted himself up and rubbed his cheek against the offered finger, his nose sniffing at her skin and she wondered how she compared to the rest of this small family or, indeed, humans. Seemingly satisfied he settled back down and his body noticeably relaxed. Which was an improvement over the last time, Kara thought to herself. Then just putting a hand close to him had given her sudden flashes of a life that wasn’t hers and that seemingly made no sense. A part of her really wanted to leave this alone… but she’d seen this being with a Red Lantern ring and had to do what she could to find out the truth.</p><p>Carefully Kara reached out to run her hand down Dex-starr’s head and back… and the world shifted around her. Suddenly she was in space and when she looked down she saw two forelimbs covered in blue fur and over the top was the familiar red and black uniform of a Red Lantern. She stared in shock and suddenly had an uncomfortable feeling of being in two places at once. Not only here - wherever here was - but back on Earth facing down Parallax, her own uniform practically glowing with the force of her rage. </p><p>The double vision persisted but she fought to ignore the familiar sights of her own memory. She’d been there, lived those events… what was coming from Dex-starr was new. Focusing in she heard a hiss in the endless vacuum of space, a feline growl but fuelled by the ring and an inner rage… but more than that, she realised suddenly. There was language there too, an understanding of the Universe equal to any sentient civilisation. She felt her attention dragged up to an invisible horizon and saw the stomach-turning sight of an anti-matter wall closing in on her. </p><p>Something made her turn and it was only then she realised where she was. Hanging behind her in space was the Earth. Or, maybe, an Earth the part of Kara that was still standing in a normal house in Gotham thought distantly. It couldn’t have been hers, this hadn’t happened on Earth 38 or Earth 1 for that matter. But her attention was drawn to the figures rising from the planet. Figures she recognised. Superman, her cousin but… different. A much larger build than her Kal, slicked back hair and a suit that seemed more like armour and was missing the red around the waist she’d grown used to. Just ahead of him and to his right was, well, herself. A little older maybe, her suit matching his but with a brighter cape and shield. Alongside them…</p><p>Kara blinked, not quite believing what she was seeing. To Kal’s left was a large white dog, eyes glowing red and seemingly flying in space with no more trouble than his master. To Supergirl’s right was an orange and white tabby cat, the same glow in its eyes. Both animals had small capes fastened around their necks and both clearly knew exactly what was happening. </p><p>Around the Kryptonian family flew at least a dozen other heroes, none of which Kara recognised save J’onn who looked much the same as she knew him. What she did see though was the emerald glow of a power ring as a Green Lantern rose through the small force to drop into formation alongside Dex-Starr.</p><p>“For what it’s worth… I’m glad you’re here.” The man said and his voice was deep and low, sorrow beyond words barely contained by the force of his will.</p><p>“Earthhh is mmmy home too John Stewart.” Dex Starr hissed in slightly drawn out but understandable English. </p><p>“Then one last time, together?” John asked and Dex-Starr nodded agreement.</p><p>Kara, their Kara, Supergirl had pulled into place at the head of the small cluster of heroes and now the wall was close enough they could see the army of Shadow Demons guarding an odd vehicle that seemed to be guiding or, yes, powering the wave. </p><p>“No matter what we hold the line!” Supergirl called and somehow her words were audible even in the vacuum of space. “For everyone that’s left in this Universe we hold the line!”</p><p>The heroes charged. No battlecry, no words, just silent determination even while they had to know the fight was almost certainly hopeless. Dex-Starr flew through the hordes of Shadow Demons like a guided missile, red energy blasts lancing out all around him and through his eyes Kara took the same wild ride. She saw the presumably Kryptonian animals tearing through entire battalions with ease. Saw herself locked in combat with the Anti-Monitor, her blows shaking the heavens and cracking his armour. Saw Kal break off and throw himself at the device only to be sent hurtling backward with a crack that seemed audible even in deep space. </p><p>Dex-Starr saw an opening and dove down, the ring that she realised had to be wrapped around his tail sending a red beam arching down. The sum of his rage, magnified and focused. It boiled around the device, energy crackling as he came closer and closer. For a moment the maelstrom before him opened as the shield failed and he darted for it… too late. It snapped closed and with a whipcrack of energy he tumbled towards the anti-matter wall. And then…. And then….</p><p>It didn’t make sense. She saw the anti-matter reach for him, felt oblivion call his name but his rage was still flaring around him, wild and furious at the death coming for him. Energy met, shifted…. The world twisted… reality bubbled and boiled around him… and he found himself lying in the garden of this house, his fur burnt, the ring and uniform gone and Enola running towards him with a cry of sympathy, calling for her mother.</p><p>Suddenly Kara was back in the room, her hand resting on Dex-Starr’s head and he was looking into her eyes as intently as she was looking into his. </p><p>“You… you were a Red Lantern. You survived the Crisis.” Kara said in shock.</p><p>“Fell through a crack in the Universe. Landed here.” The voice was a tickle in her mind, not the forced spoken English she’d heard him use in the memory. “You, you were the Paragon of Hope. Saved us all. Fought Parallax. Restored the light.”</p><p>“We’re… we’ve a connection?” She frowned, thinking quickly. “The rings?”</p><p>Dex-Starr nodded, careful not to dislodge her hand. “Some things remain even without them. While we touch we can understand.”</p><p>“You remember it, don’t you?”</p><p>“Most. Not all. Not who or what I was before. Not why I lost myself to Rage.”</p><p>“That may be a blessing.” Kara said with heartfelt sincerity. “Are you… are you safe here?”</p><p>“As much as any of us can be.”</p><p>“Do you still have… I mean, I know you don’t have the ring but did you, do you….?”</p><p>“Powers? Strength? Some. Not much. Not what I was. But enough.”</p><p>“Enough? Enough for… oh!” Kara glanced at the door and felt the confirmation buzz in her mind. “Are you happy here?”</p><p>“Yes, Kara Zor-El. I have found peace. They know I am… different. They treat me kindly. There is no war here.” This time she felt the growl in her bones and it seemed as ferocious as she’d seen in the vision. “But if it is brought here I will fight for them.”</p><p>“It won’t. Not if I can do anything to stop it.” Kara promised. “I know what you must have gone through. Rest well. You’ve earned it.”</p><p>“Thank you, Kara Zor-El. May you find the same at the end of your path.”</p><p>Kara slowly lifted her hand and was surprised when Dex-Starr moved to rub his cheek against her palm. Almost automatically she let her fingers slide around his head, across his neck and down his back. It felt a little wrong to be petting what she knew was a very intelligent creature like a common house cat but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact he was purring and she took that as a good sign. After a couple of minutes she called a halt and headed back downstairs in a thoughtful mood.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Inara asked as she caught sight of Supergirl’s face. Her and Enola were busy laying the table as their parents finished dishing out the meal. It smelled wonderful and Kara suddenly found herself horribly homesick. Forcing it aside she blinked and focused on the family in front of her. </p><p>“Hmm? Oh, oh yes, sorry. Just…” Kara smiled sadly. “When I came to Earth my first real friend was a cat. It always takes me back there when I meet one that seems to like me.”</p><p>“Well if you want you can come by and see Dex any time you like.” Inara said graciously in a transparent ploy to have Supergirl as a regular visitor. </p><p>“I think Dex would probably prefer the peace and quiet.” Kara said thoughtfully. “But if I’m ever in Gotham with time on my hands I’ll see if I can visit. If, of course, it’s okay with all of you.”</p><p>She saw Myara and Kifen exchange a look but there didn’t seem to be any concern in it. “That’d be fine with us.” Kif said. “As far as we’re concerned you’re welcome anytime Supergirl.” </p><p>“Though right now you’re welcome at the table as this is just about ready!” Myara called indicating a chair in the middle of the six person table. Enloa and Inara sat opposite her, she suspected to forestall any arguments about who got to sit next to Supergirl. Myara took the seat at the head of the table while Kif settled in next to Kara so as not to leave her isolated on one side. </p><p>The next hour passed in a blur as for the first time in far too long Kara let herself feel at home with a young family around her. To her relief there were no shrill calls of alarms or pings on her comm system and she could let the GCPD and Batwoman take care of the city for a while. The girls proved wonderful company and she was surprised at how insightful their take on Earth culture was. Though, she chided herself, that wasn’t exactly surprising if they’d been born here. Just like Kal they were more children of Earth than anywhere else and they’d had the cultural exposure of living in Gotham rather than Smallville. </p><p>While she always tried to keep using her powers to a minimum she couldn’t resist every not-very-subtle hint for her to show off, if only because of the increasingly wide-eyed silent pleading from the girls. Eventually she’d caught Myara’s eye and the older woman had nodded agreement with an encouraging smile. </p><p>“Okay, okay… one request then. What would you like to see? And before you ask I’m afraid we can’t go flying tonight. This is supposed to be a quiet visit and seeing Supergirl floating around your yard would give that away.”</p><p>The girls went into a huddle and there was a quick, muttered discussion. It was Inara who made the request which surprised Kara but she supposed, in a way, it was her turn. </p><p>“Can we see how strong you are?”</p><p>“Hmm… well that might be tricky. I don’t want to break anything.” Kara said, looking around for inspiration. Her gaze fell on a small display case with a selection of rock and mineral samples in it. “If I may ask, what’s this?”</p><p>“Oh that’s mine.” Kif said with a note of nervous pride in his voice. “I’ve always been fascinated at how different cultures use their resources. Each sample has a dedicated holo-display of what it’s used for. Of course this is just the Earth collection, I keep the others upstairs out of the way just in case someone gets the wrong idea!”</p><p>“I know it’s rude to ask but if I replace it may I use one of them for a demonstration?” Kara asked, surprising herself with how formally she ended up putting the question. Something in her was sending gentle warning signals that this had more significance to the man than it may first appear.</p><p>“If it’s replaced, certainly.” Kif said, walking over and swinging open the case. “Which would you like?”</p><p>“The coal, please.” Kara told him and held a hand out to let him drop the dirty black rock into her palm as Myara wordlessly passed over a damp cloth to Kif in an attempt to stop coal dust spreading through the house. </p><p>“Okay… Myara could you fill the sink with cool water please? And then you might want to step back a little, things might get a bit warm.”</p><p>She waited until the sink was brimming with water then held out the coal to her audience in the palm of her hand. It was a relatively small piece and she could just about wrap her hand around it. She brought her other hand down, palm first, on top of it so the rock vanished in her grip and started to squeeze. Her hands clenched and the effort was obvious as she exerted an astonishing amount of pressure on the chunk of carbon. After a few seconds to make sure she had a good grip she looked down and let her heat vision play over her hands, warming them up to several hundred degrees. </p><p>She kept up both the heat and the pressure for almost a minute, her x-ray vision letting her check how her ‘cooking’ was going. Satisfied she eased back and blew a steady stream of freeze breath over her skin to make it safe for the family to approach her. Slowly she eased her hands apart, opening her fingers… and there, in the palm of her hand, glinted a freshly made diamond. Something that would normally require immense geological forces had just happened right in front of their eyes.</p><p>“Oh my god!” Inara cried.</p><p>“That’s awesome!” Enola agreed as Kara winked then walked over to the sink, dunking her hand and rinsing the diamond clean. She brushed the remaining water away as she pulled it out then carefully let it drop into Inara’s hand. </p><p>“Did that answer your question?” Kara asked with a smile and the looks she got in return could have lit up the entire city. “I’ll replace it of course.” She added to Kif who was shaking his head in disbelief.</p><p>“Whenever you’ve got time Supergirl.” He said, slightly shellshocked.</p><p>After a few more minutes Kara took her leave and after hugging all of them goodbye slipped out of the front door and shot into the night sky. It had been an enjoyable evening and provided some much needed answers… but the questions it left troubled her greatly. She banked around and headed for Wayne Tower, a sudden need for some quiet time to think burning in her soul.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Night had fallen as Batwoman made her way across the rooftops of her city. As much as she sometimes envied Kara the bright lights, wide streets and general upbeat nature of National City there was something about Gotham that made it special. Even now, as the whole damn place always seemed to be one wrong one from disaster there was a siren song to its streets, buildings and people. </p><p>Kate always quietly wondered if people who’d never been there realised just how big the place was. She saw the suburbs stretching out before her and was glad the building she was aiming for was relatively close to the city. Travel by grapple might seem cool, even glamorous, but the reality was somewhat different. She’d brought the bike as far as she’d dared but the further from the city centre she went the harder it got to move vaguely stealthily which left her almost a mile to cover above the streets. Still at least the buildings here were just about tall enough to let her glide most of the way with the occasional grapple assist. </p><p>Settling down on top of her target she flicked the cowl’s sensors on and took a good look around. The building seemed empty, just as it should be, though she could pick up the spider web of cables and explosives set for the next day. With only a ten foot gap between either side and the next apartment blocks it was going to need to be one hell of a controlled explosion. In fact Kate was suddenly grateful neither of its neighbours were owned by Wayne Enterprises!</p><p>“Looks clear.” She muttered and Luke’s voice came through their private comm channel as clear as if he’d been standing next to her.</p><p>“Yeah, nothing on the satellite feed or surveillance cameras either.” He confirmed. “Block to the west looks empty too, at least no major heat sources. The one to the East… call it three out of ten apartments occupied. Couple of families, one single. No-one really paying attention.”</p><p>“Handy. Quiet though.”</p><p>“Well it’s still not that late and it’s a popular place for city workers to commute from so they’re likely making their way home.”</p><p>“Well let’s get this done before that changes.” Kate said. “Anything suspicious on that skylight I’ve missed?”</p><p>“Not that I can see, no.” Luke confirmed. “Might want to be careful with the usual toys though, last thing you want is to disturb a wire.”</p><p>“No kidding.” Kate grumbled as she flicked a Batarang from her belt and pried the catch up. “Why’d they decide to blow this place up anyway? Seems dangerous with stuff so close?”</p><p>“Looks like there was no way to get the heavy wrecking gear on-site without causing massive disruption for days.” Luke said, clearly working his way through the mountain of paperwork he’d dug up during the day. “Uh… yeah, all interested parties agreed that a controlled demolition with explosives was the preferable solution and Dynamic Developments put down a pretty substantial accidental damage deposit just in case.”</p><p>“You buy it?” Kate asked as she dropped lightly to the top floor landing and looked around. After a moment’s thought she fired a grapple into the ceiling and lowered herself down the middle of the wide stairwell, checking the front door to each apartment as she went.</p><p>“It looks like a decent excuse… but yeah, it’s an excuse.” Luke said confidently. “There’s enough access to get a wrecking ball in and the bulk of the work wouldn’t need more than a small crew and maybe a mini-bulldozer. They wanted to do this.”</p><p>“And the news gets better.” Kate told him grimly. “Four doors, all freshly painted but with damage to the frames around the locks and hinges. Apartments 12, 6, 3 and 1.”</p><p>“Checking… yep, that’s the four that were rented by aliens.” </p><p>“Why am I not surprised? Okay… let’s see… hmm, locked but nothing seriously out of the ordinary. I could probably kick it open.”</p><p>“Try not to.” Luke advised. “They’ll do a last check tomorrow to make sure no-one’s decided the centre of an implosion would be a great place to sleep. They’re going to notice boot marks.”</p><p>“You’re no fun.” Kate sighed, pulling a set of picks from another pouch and setting to work on the lock. A few seconds later it clicked open and she eased open the first apartment door. “Any idea what I’m looking for here?”</p><p>“Not really.” Luke admitted. “Hang on, there’s a new trick I’ve been working on…” He fed a series of commands into his computer and Kate’s vision swam as the cowl put what felt like a dozen additional layers of info on the eye pieces. </p><p>“What the hell?” </p><p>“Detective mode! It should intelligently scan the area using, well, every sensor the cowl’s got plus a bunch of AI processing to find anything it thinks shouldn’t be there.” Luke sounded so proud Kate couldn’t help but grin even if it was something she tried to avoid doing when in her work clothes.</p><p>“Neat! Might want to add a couple of aspirin to the belt though.” She commented looking around for… there! “Wait a minute, what’s that?” She looked up at the ceiling and a set of three long gashes in the plaster.</p><p>“Not sure, the computer can’t match it to anything. I’ll add it to the scan matrix… there, have a look around, it’ll flag anything else like it.”</p><p>Kate made her way silently through the apartment and found another five of the marks leading in from the doorway down the corridor and into the main bedroom. The final set were a matched pair, one on the right side of the doorframe the other carved in the door itself. It was as if someone had been trying to stop themselves being pushed out of the room by hanging on to the frame. </p><p>She knelt down to examine them more closely, letting one gloved finger trace the edge of the mark in the door frame. It was rough but surprisingly deep, almost as if something naturally sharp but poorly maintained had been shoved through the wood… A sudden nasty suspicion wormed it’s way into her mind and she checked the other two gashes in this mark before comparing it to the one in the door itself. Slightly different, wider spacing on the door but that’d be expected as it’d move while…</p><p>“Compare them to claw marks.” She told Luke, her throat suddenly dry. “Might not be able to find an exact match but scale up something suitable from the computer. I’m going to check the other apartments.” </p><p>The next ten minutes passed in a blur as she carefully but urgently made her way through the same process in apartments 3 and 6. Sure enough the same marks were in them too, although scattered seemingly at random across walls, ceiling and even the floor. It wasn’t until she was picking the lock to apartment 12 that Luke pinged back.</p><p>“You might be right Kate.” His voice was tinged with worry which was never a good sign. “No match but the damage would be consistent with claws. Big claws.”</p><p>“How big?”</p><p>“Typical human hands if our fingers ended in sharp pointed claws.” </p><p>“Oh great…” Kate muttered as the front door swung open and the cowl picked up the same marks. This time though they were tracking down the corridor and the door to the living room seemed almost shredded. “Woah… whatever this thing is it either had some sort of fit here or was in one hell of a fight. Wait.. you seeing that?”</p><p>A green mark had popped up in the cowl display and she leant in close, her right hand dipping once more into her belt this time for an evidence bag and pair of tweezers. Carefully she dug into the woodwork and came back with what looked like a reptile scale only much, much thicker. </p><p>“What the hell…?” Luke muttered “That almost looks like armour!”</p><p>“On something with claws like human fingers. This gets better and better.” Kate agreed, slowly turning the sample over. “Hmm, that might come in handy.”</p><p>“Okay that’s gross!” Luke protested as the cowl feed showed him the hunk of flesh hanging from the underneath of the scale. It had clearly been there for a while as it was starting to putrefy and Kate quickly bagged it and secured the sample back in her belt. </p><p>“Right, let’s finish up and….” </p><p>“GET OUT NOW!” Luke yelled down the comm and Batwoman was in motion before he’d finished  the first word. She wasn’t about to argue with Luke when he was that panicked. A second later she heard the first explosive trigger down on the ground floor but she was already racing through the living room. Another explosion rocked her to the right and in front of her was a plasterboard wall dividing the room into two nooks. A third explosion had the whole building lurching and she lowered her shoulder, tucked her head and slammed into and through the thin wall at full speed, thankful she’d missed any support beams.</p><p>Another round of explosions and she was running up a rapidly increasing incline as the building started to collapse into its own foundations. Muscles burning she saw the window just steps away and forced herself to greater efforts. The ceiling above her was crumbling, debris bouncing off the cowl and then the floor lurched again, this time bucking up under her feet and threatening to send her flying. She staggered, regained her balance and dove through the window even as it seemed to race upwards. The glass shattered around her, the windowsill slamming into her shins as she burst into the open air. A dust cloud reached up for her and she slapped a hand to her hip, grabbing the grapple gun and firing at the edge of the nearby rooftop.</p><p>For a moment nothing happened and she had time to glance down and see the destruction as gravity claimed her and she started to fall. Then the line snapped taught and she shot like a bullet from a gun out of the chaos. She arched up, landed rolling on the rough rooftop, her cape wrapping around her as she started coughing from the dust and debris she’d inhaled. Scrambling back to her feet she stayed low and worked her way as quickly as she could back to the edge of the roof.</p><p>Down below lights were turning on as confused residents went to see what had happened. That, at least, was obvious as the condemned block was lying in ruin a good twelve hours before it was supposed to. </p><p>“Are you okay?” Luke’s frantic voice buzzed over the comm and Kate realised it wasn’t the first time he’d asked.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. What the hell happened?”</p><p>“No idea. I’d set the computer to monitor power to the site just in case there was an alarm or something. Picked up a detonation pulse being sent.”</p><p>Kate shook her head, annoyed at herself for not thinking to ask Luke to do just that. “Add another one to the list of times you’ve saved my life.” She said sincerely. “A second later and I might not have made it.”</p><p>“Just glad you’re okay!” Luke told her and she could practically hear his relieved smile over the comm. “What’s next?”</p><p>“Any idea where that signal came from?”</p><p>“Uh, no, sorry. It had to be somewhere in Dynamic Development’s network but nothing more specific than that.”</p><p>“In that case let’s call it a night. See you in twenty.” Kate abruptly cut off the comm and glanced around. Somehow she didn’t think that mentioning she still had the sample in her possession was a good idea out in the open like this…</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So how did it go?” Kate called from the hot tub.</p><p>“Well I didn’t get a building dropped on me…” Kara replied, striding in with a face equal thirds worried, angry and proud. </p><p>“Technically I was in it at the time so not really dropped on me.” Kate corrected, stretching out under the bubbles and groaning as she felt the heat ease her sore muscles. </p><p>“Are you alright?” </p><p>“I’m fine. Bruise or two but didn’t break the skin. And don’t give me that look! It’s true! Didn’t even trip the healing powers this time.”</p><p>“Hmm….” Kara looked doubtful then grinned and started stalking towards the tub. “Nope, I’m going to have to check for myself.”</p><p>“Oh if you insist.” The impish grin on Kate’s face was enough to guarantee that Kara wouldn’t have stopped if, well, if the building had fallen on them. There was a blur of motion as her super suit went sailing into the wicker chair in the corner then a very naked Kara Danvers slid into the water beside her wife. </p><p>“Aww, no show?” Kate asked innocently.</p><p>“Shut up!” Kara said and kissed her fiercely. Kate responded and groaned into Kara’s mouth though in truth she was always a little conflicted about this. On the one hand she loved how Kara always seemed to be so passionate after they’d had a brush with death. On the other she couldn’t help but wish the blonde wouldn’t worry quite so much, even if the result was usually ridiculously good sex. </p><p>Kate groaned again as Kara grabbed her wrists and moved them gently but irresistibly above Kate’s head, holding both wrists in one hand. The other started travelling down Kate’s body, doing all sorts of interesting things to every inch of skin the roving fingers encountered.</p><p>“You enjoyed it didn’t you?” Kara asked breathlessly, her teeth nipping at Kate’s damp neck. “The danger?”</p><p>“A little.” Kate admitted. “A… ohhhhh that’s…. After it’s all over there’s always a russsssshhhhggggggg….”</p><p>“Still got that rush now?” Kara’s hand had reached Kate’s hips and slid around her thigh, travelling back and forth in a half circle from front to back.</p><p>“With you? Always.”</p><p>“You saying I’m dangerous?”</p><p>“No, just… stimulating.” Kate teased then arched her back and raised her hips as Kara’s thumb brushed her clit. </p><p>“Do you trust me?” Kara asked and Kate instantly nodded.</p><p>“Always and forever.”</p><p>“Then hold your breath.” Kara whispered and gave Kate a second to comply before using her leverage on Kate’s wrists to push her wife below the water. At the same moment Kara’s hand went straight to Kate’s core, two fingers diving inside as her thumb vibrated on her wife’s clit. </p><p>Kate was in heaven. The sudden stimulation between her thighs was just what she needed, as it always was from Kara. Having a lover that could see even the most minute twitch of your body made sure of that. But looking up through the thin layer of water to see that beautiful blonde face staring down at her in complete control not just of her pleasure but her breathing, her very life… it was the perfect point between love and risk, control and trust that Kate loved more than anything in the world.</p><p>Anything… but not anyone. Sure if, say, Lena or Sara had done this to her it would have been incredible but with Kara it elevated the whole experience. She actually found herself crying below the water not in fear but joy as her body raced to its release, the orgasm sweeping over her as she revelled in being at this time, in this place, in this situation under the control of this breathtaking, wonderful woman. </p><p>The water above her rippled and Kara broke through, her hair splaying out like a golden cloud around her face as she swept down to kiss her wife. Together, trusting each other completely as they shared their very breath, Kate caught in perfect balance between physical pleasure and spiritual happiness they hung in a timeless moment with nothing, no-one else in the world mattering but the other.</p><p>It ended of course, as all things must and Kara eased Kate up above the surface. Kara slid in close, guiding Kate’s arms around her body as they kissed and embraced before Kara gently kissed away the fresh tears that fell.</p><p>“God I love when you do that…” Kate breathed. “All of it I mean… you’re spectacular.”</p><p>“I… I never thought I’d find anyone like you, who’d trust me so much.” Kara admitted in a small voice.</p><p>Kate laughed and pulled her wife as close to her as physically possible. “What can I say, you make it easy my love. Besides who else would ever know me well enough to think giving up control like that could be such a turn-on? Occasionally!” Kate said quickly as she saw the grin start to spread on Kara’s face. “You’re still not being let loose on my wardrobe.”</p><p>“Awwww, just a couple of sweaters?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“But you look so cute in them!”</p><p>“I look cute in anything. Or nothing come to that.” Kate said gesturing down. “But there’s a limit to the level of pastel I’ll have in my life.”</p><p>“We’ll see about that.” Kara laughed, turning slightly to rest alongside Kate in the tub. She managed to move a hand away from the smooth, tempting skin to fumble for the controls to the tub and start the bubble jets, one of which turned out to be directly under her butt. The high-pitched squeak of surprise had Kate in a giggling fit before the echo had faded away.</p><p>“So much for super senses!” Kate laughed, splashing water in Kara’s general direction.</p><p>“Oh, oh, says the Bat who blew up a building!”</p><p>“Hey, I didn’t blow it up! Someone else did. I just happened to be in it at the time…”</p><p>“Complete coincidence I’m sure.” Kara teased and Kate was glad to see the earlier worry didn’t return to Kara’s eyes. </p><p>“Actually, Luke traced the signal back to Dynamic Developments network so this time I’m in the clear.” Kate pointed out. “So there. Nehhh!” She tried her best pout complete with stuck-out tongue but it bounced off the Girl of Steel.</p><p>“First of all I believe you. Second of all don’t get into a pout-off with me, you’re gonna loose that one every time!” Kate immediately dropped the look knowing, in this one and very specific case, Kara really did have her hopelessly outmatched. “So what do we do about it?” Kara asked, a worried look in her eyes.</p><p>“Practice? A bag for your head?”</p><p>“What? No, not the pout you jerk! The ‘someone trying to kill you’ bit.”</p><p>“Oh that.” Kate shrugged casually. “Luke’s going to see if he can at backtrack it and get me a target. Once he does I’ll go pay them a visit.”</p><p>“And if he can’t?”</p><p>“Then I’ll improvise. Besides that’s not our biggest problem right now.” Kate took a deep breath and told Kara about the claw marks and armour-like scale she’d found.</p><p>“So you think something attacked the aliens living in that block?” Kara asked once Kate had finished her tale.</p><p>“Pretty much, yeah. What I don’t know is why…”</p><p>“Want me to look into it?”</p><p>“It’d help, yeah.” Kate admitted. “Some things just can’t be done with the computer.”</p><p>“Alright, I’ll ask around. What about the scale?”</p><p>“Nothing we’ve got in the cave can make any sort of sense of it. Ideally we need a decent research lab, preferably with experience at non-terrestrial analysis.”</p><p>“Well that’s handy.” Kara said with a chuckle, snuggling closer to Kate in the warm water as bubbles massaged her back and thighs.</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“You’re meeting Lena tomorrow.” Kara reminded her wife. “She’s got more experience with alien tech and biology than pretty much anyone else on the planet.”</p><p>“Dang. And I was just planning on seducing her to make you jealous.” Kate teased, running her fingers down Kara’s spine. “Now I’ve got to do some actual work.”</p><p>“Eh.” Kara shrugged, her own hands starting to roam again as they both felt a heat rise that had nothing to do with the hot tub. “You want to seduce Lena, go for it. Just so long as I get to join in the fun.”</p><p>Kate laughed and rolled over, splashing water over the edge of the tub as she laid on top of the Kryptonian. “Always my love.” She whispered, dropping down into a kiss that promised a long and entertaining night.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The author wishes to formally apologise to the laws of physics for casually ignoring them when narratively convenient but, hey, comic books!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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